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Do you believe in intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe?

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Do you believe in intelligent life elsewhere in the universe?

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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
OK... That's your view and I can respect it.. but let me ask you a hypothetical...

Suppose one day there is difinitive proof of aliens.. say you physically see an alien craft land, and you physically see non-human life forms disembark. How shaken is your faith in God? More importantly, why would your religion and God hinge on there not being other intelligent life (or the "we are unique" idea)
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That would not shake my faith in God--and that faith does not hinge on there not being intelligent life out there. Really, that would only be a minor detail in a much larger scheme, and I'm more interested in the big picture anyway. Though as a Christian I'd have to wonder what role Jesus would have played in the lives of these other intelligent beings...

As for Mili's post, to me a belief in aliens seems as naive as any other, but I won't argue the egocentric (or perhaps geo-centric) nature of my religious beliefs.
 
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BayBuck said:
That would not shake my faith in God--and that faith does not hinge on there not being intelligent life out there. Really, that would only be a minor detail in a much larger scheme, and I'm more interested in the big picture anyway. Though as a Christian I'd have to wonder what role Jesus would have played in the lives of these other intelligent beings...

As for Mili's post, to me a belief in aliens seems as naive as any other, but I won't argue the egocentric (or perhaps geo-centric) nature of my religious beliefs.
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So, believing in the uniqueness of Humankind is irrelevant to your faith? If so, why bother mentioning it at all as a reason to not believe in Alien life. (and If I'm putting words in your mouth, I'm sorry. I don't mean to.)
 
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To believe that out of the 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000+ stars in the galaxy that intelligent life only developed on one planet is pretty hard to buy. There is probably plenty of life out there advanced enough that they would agree with those of you who say there is no intelligent life on Earth.

Some of the no votes are probably the same people who get pissed off at The Da Vinci Code for saying Christ was married and had children.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
Isn't it just as statistically probable that there isn't life out there? I mean, why is one (no life) the fallback position?
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But of all the phenomena that man has observed in the universe, no object or event is unique. Each time a new discovery is first made, whether it was the first galaxy, black hole, red dwarf, supernova, extra-solar planet, etc., we have later found more of the same. Wouldn’t this universal trend then lead one to believe that life on Earth is also not unique; since the conditions were right for life to evolve on Earth then it logically follows that there are other similar planets somewhere that have life?
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
Other than your faith, what known contact have we had with God? The burden is likewise on those who wish to prove God is out there - as something we've never seen actually being out there.
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I have yet to read a book on aliens which has the same cultural and historical importance as the Bible, in which there are many references to direct interaction between God and man. Sure, I also have to take that leap of faith to believe the Bible is still relevant and even true, but the fact is I'm not trying to prove to anybody that God does exist.

I would have initially responded that yes, I believe in intelligent life outside earth--if that includes God--but I was naive enough to believe this thread wouldn't get all philosophical/religious a few pages later.:biggrin:
 
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Whenever life gets you down, Mrs. Brown,
And things seem hard or tough,
And people are stupid, obnoxious or daft,

And you feel that you've had quite eno-o-o-o-o-ough,

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And reolving at nine thousand miles an hour.
It's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
'Round the sun that is the source of all our power.
Now the sun, and you and me, and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day,
In the outer spiral arm, at fourteen thousand miles an hour,
Of a galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our galaxy itself contains a hundred million stars;
It's a hundred thousand light-years side to side;
It bulges in the middle sixteen thousand light-years thick,
But out by us it's just three thousand light-years wide.
We're thirty thousand light-years from Galactic Central Point,
We go 'round every two hundred million years;
And our galaxy itself is one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

Our universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding,
In all of the directions it can whiz;
As fast as it can go, that's the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth;
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere out in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth!


-- Eric Idle
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I tend to believe that there is intelligent life somewhere out there.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
It's just as easy for me to say the null is that there is life out there, now prove otherwise. Now you've got the burden.

See what I'm saying?
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Not really, because the definition of the null does not allow you to state that life exists out there. The null assumes there is nothing beyond what we already know and what you do in statistics is try to prove to a significant enough level that we can add something new to what we know.

You may say this is arbitrary, which in one sense it is; but the alternative is to say that everything imaginable exists until proven otherwise, which leads us to confusion and absurdities. For example, apply the same reasoning to the Loch Ness Monster. You're alternative approach to the null would be to suggest that the burden of proof lies on those who say it does not exist and until they can prove it doesn't (an almost impossible task), we should accept that it does, which is not a very rational means to approach such a question.

and I know thump wanted to avoid religion here, but... How can you believe in God if you believe in this Null burden?

Is it merely because man has historically believed God does exist? Again, it's an arbitrary distinction, in my mind.
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I want to honor Thump's request to keep religion out of this, so let me put it this way without getting in too deep. First, by definition God is not something that can be proved or disproved by humans, so the null burden is meaningless in such a question. Second, if we were to set aside my first objection, I would argue that the null burden is satisfied by the millions and millions who have a shared experience with the divine over the past 4000 years.
 
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Buckeyeskickbuttocks said:
So, believing in the uniqueness of Humankind is irrelevant to your faith? If so, why bother mentioning it at all as a reason to not believe in Alien life. (and If I'm putting words in your mouth, I'm sorry. I don't mean to.)
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No, though that belief in our uniqueness may be irrelevant to the religion that I base my faith on--my personal view of the universe according to my religion is probably different from my pastor's, and I'm always open to reinterpretation based on newly available information.
 
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Brewtus said:
But of all the phenomena that man has observed in the universe, no object or event is unique. Each time a new discovery is first made, whether it was the first galaxy, black hole, red dwarf, supernova, extra-solar planet, etc., we have later found more of the same. Wouldn’t this universal trend then lead one to believe that life on Earth is also not unique; since the conditions were right for life to evolve on Earth then it logically follows that there are other similar planets somewhere that have life?
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I would argue that is quite correct. All the "rules" the govern my common every day expierence compel me to believe that earth, and the life on it, is far from unique... in fact, I suspect life is the rule, not the exception.

On the issue of God as related to otehr life, if God is TRUELY infinate (and God over the universe) then does that not say something greater about his Love for creation than simply creating man and then hitting his recliner and catching some tube?
 
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BayBuck said:
I have yet to read a book on aliens which has the same cultural and historical importance as the Bible, in which there are many references to direct interaction between God and man. Sure, I also have to take that leap of faith to believe the Bible is still relevant and even true, but the fact is I'm not trying to prove to anybody that God does exist.

I would have initially responded that yes, I believe in intelligent life outside earth--if that includes God--but I was naive enough to believe this thread wouldn't get all philosophical/religious a few pages later.:biggrin:
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heheheh... I didn't even think about that.

A believer in God HAS to believe in intelligent life "out there" or they deny the existence of God outside of Earth.
 
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